


Immune to Demention

by caiusreese



Category: The Last of Us, The Walking Dead (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-21
Updated: 2018-09-21
Packaged: 2019-07-15 06:23:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16057346
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/caiusreese/pseuds/caiusreese
Summary: A zombie apocalypse survival story with less zombies and more rebuilding of society than anything else. Staring 11-year-old Judith her newfound father figure and protector Cal and a host of other characters living in the idyllic safe haven about the size of Vermont called The Harvest Counties.





	1. Chapter 1

Judith was eleven years old and all alone in a time when it was a horrible thing to be the world ended twenty years ago nine years before she was born. A virus spread across the globe like wildfire making both people and animal’s demented creatures spreading the virus through bites it was aptly dubbed the ‘Wildfire Virus’. Judith was immune a fact she’d discovered after she was bitten a year ago and never turned since she was immune it was almost certain that her children would be immune. She’d been captured by a sadistic group who captured immune girls, women, boys and men and when the girls were fifteen and older forced them to have children with the immune boys and men then sold the babies to the various safe havens for huge amounts of valuable supplies. 

Judith huddled in her tiny room these men were monsters all of them…they just wanted them for sex they didn’t care about their children all they wanted was the entertainment of the sex. They were going to be introducing her to the future father of her children today they hardly ever paired them up to be close in age they just picked entertaining pairs. The door to her room clicked open and the guards walked in dragging a man with them god he was old! He was old enough to be her father…the man grimaced as he saw her and said, “Fuck! I am not screwing with her! Look at her she’s practically a baby! Bastards!”

The guards laughed and the leader a guy with a wheezing voice Judith had aptly dubbed, Wheezer said, “You will be in four years it’ll be a father daughter porno for sure ha! Ha! Go on say hello have a little looksee at the future mother of your children.” 

Judith squeezed herself even farther into the corner as the guards filed out leaving her alone with the man who swore and sat down on the floor with a grunt and said, “Hey baby girl…I ain’t gonna hurt you I promise I ain’t gonna do nothin’…that ain’t the kind of man I am I got morals. I got folks coming for me to get me out we’re gonna get everyone outta here and somewhere safe…my name is Cal I live at the Harvest Counties it’s in Maine ‘bout a month away from here on foot or horseback less by car…it’s about the size of Vermont we’ve got about 400 people living with us at the moment with room for up to 600,000. Its fully sustainable got electricity thanks to solar and wind power, we’ve got sheep, cows, goats, llamas, alpacas, horses, donkeys, chickens, geese, duck, quail, turkey, ostriches, emus if you can think of it we’ve probably got it, orchards of fruit trees both ordinary and exotic, gardens with enough food and ammo last a war. What’s your name baby girl? How old are you? You got any family left out there?“

Judith rested her chin on her knees as listened to him talk he had a calming voice she lifted her head just enough to look at him as she said, “They’ll make you…they’ll give you drugs or put a gun to your head…they have ways I’ve seen what they do if you refuse…they got guns and ammo too lots of it cause’ the safe havens give it to them…they could take a safe haven down if they wanted to…Judith…my name is Judith I’m eleven and I have no one its just me…”

Cal adjusted his position on the floor resting an arm on one knee as he replied, “Jesus…they make you watch? Motherfuckers! Ain’t got no damn morals lying pieces of shit! Well, they won’t take the Counties down their too large and too strong what they’ve given these guys is barely even a scratch on the surface of what firepower they have. Judith…that’s a good name …shit just eleven? Well, you’ve got me now and when my people get here you’ll have them as well. Do these fuckers feed you at all you’re skin and bones…“

Judith shivered as the ice-cold air conditioning shuddered on they always kept it on freezing just to make them as uncomfortable as possible. Cal peeled off his jacket and crawled towards Judith holding it out he said, “Here put this on before you freeze solid. I don’t get cold that easily. “

Judith hesitated before she took the jacket from him with trembling fingers she put it on it was far too big, but it was warm, but unsurprisingly it reeked of death and decay. She settled back against the wall and murmured, “Thank you…” then there was a few shouts outside the room followed by more yelling doors began slamming and a few dozen footsteps sounded past the door then gunshots began ringing out. Agonized yells and cries of pain and fear sounded out both from the shooting and from the other cells. 

Cal stood up and walked to the door saying, “The hell is going on out there?“ Judith covered her ears as the gunshots drew closer and louder then they stopped and slow footsteps began to walk around. Cal bent over and let out a relieved laugh as there were a few whistles. He straightened up and whistled back loudly the door to their room was soon yanked open by a group of heavily armed people. Cal looked at Judith and said, “Hey baby girl what I say? I got folks coming for me. Come on let’s get you outta here. “ Judith took his outstretched hand and let him pull her to her feet. 

A tall pale woman with buzz cut brown hair saluted them both and said, “Man are we glad to see you in one piece Cal. You got a friend? You were right about this place being a bad seed we’re getting everyone out to the trucks sorry we took so long had to take a detour or two because of hordes. These fuckers got 18-wheelers full of supplies not even touched. Come on lets get the two of you to a truck Aaron, Luke, Toby, Riley, Jenna and I are taking the rescued back to the Counties now everyone else is going to stay to strip this place clean and do some looting in the city then they’ll come back. “

Cal shook her hand pulling Judith close to his side he guided her from her cell to freedom…that was something she hadn’t had in almost a year….he said, “Not as glad as I am to see you lot took you long enough…yeah…this is Judith. They just gathered the supplies to have it I think the only stuff they touched was the booze and cigarettes. It’ll be good to have all that stuff back at the Counties bet Miranda’s been having a fit that I got caught didn’t mean to I just walked a little too close to a booby trap I guess… please tell me Riley and Luke brought some med supplies with them a lot of these guys are gonna need some form of treatment. Guess we know where all those babies came from now…if we’d known how they came into the world…where they came from sooner I would’ve been here sooner with more people and fire power. These girls are forced to start popping out babies as soon as they turn fifteen sometimes their not even fifteen yet…“

Judith let out a scream as she spotted the blood-splattered walls and the mangled bodies littering the ground. Cal pulled her closer and scooped her up into his arms and held her as he whispered soothingly, “Shh…it’s okay...it’s okay…close your eyes baby girl close your eyes…I got you, I got you…” Judith pressed her face into his shoulder and squeezed her eyes shut keeping them shut until they stopped moving. She lifted her head cautiously peeked around. 

There was at least a dozen or more army trucks outside the compound all getting filled up with the freed prisoners. Cal looked at Judith before saying, “Hey, hey Judith look at me it’s okay alright? It’s okay no one’s going to hurt you all these people you see are my friends they live with me at the Harvest Counties they’re good people they won’t hurt you. You see this lady here is Ariah she’s badass as they come keeps idiots like me in line those two other there are the twins Riley and Luke they’re doctors they are going to make sure no one’s sick or needs medicine. Come on in the truck you go sweetheart we are going to start heading home to the Counties you’ll be safe there…“

Judith reluctantly let go of Cal to climb in the truck she settled herself in a corner in the back Cal joined her a while later watching her as they began to move. The movement of the truck and sheer exhaustion lulled Judith to sleep she slept fitfully waking with a cry a several times and waking to the cries of others on the truck. They didn’t stop for a long time and when they did they stopped only long enough for everyone to get some water, use the bathroom and have a few saltines as well as fill the tanks of the trucks before they were on the move again. 

Cal kept them entertained talking about the Harvest Counties, “The Harvest Counties is a fully eco-friendly sustainable living county running fully off of solar and wind power it has been up and running for fifteen years before the end and still going strong. We are about the size of Vermont, but we’ve only got a population of about 400 people. We’ve got room for over 600, 000 people don’t know if we’ll ever get there, but we’d sure like to try and help a lot more people get to safety. There are three entry points for the Counties from the city, through the mountains and from the other side of the mountain. We are growing our own food, animal feed, building our own electricity free appliances and creating blueprints for them. We have a school going with several teachers for the infants, preschoolers, middle schoolers and high schoolers. We are also teaching everyone how to sow, plant, care for animals, make weapons, how to build and how to fight. We have several doctors and nurses some are stationed at the greeting committee stations at the three entrances and others are of course in the community. “

He paused to think and let them ask questions before he said, “We are along the coastline so we have access to fish and we are working on fine tuning a way to make sea water drinkable on a large scale, we collect rainwater and we are learning a lot from books we’ve collected from bookstores, libraries and schools. We’re finding natural herbal remedies to treat injuries since most of the medication left is out dated and most likely not effective enough. We do a lot of hunting for meat and fur we use the fur for clothing and we’re using the bones as handles for utensils and knives as well as arrowheads. Everything we don’t use we find a use for we live in a world now where nothing can go to waste. We’re working on trying to turn all our vehicles into solar powered ones so we don’t have to worry about gas. We’ve got a Gristmill to make flour we’re making flour out of Wheat and nuts and sunflower seeds and we are also making milk out of the nuts as well as nut butters. We have pigs, cows, goats, chickens, ducks, rabbits, horses, donkeys, mules, turkeys, pheasants, quail, pigeon, ostriches, emu, beefalo, which is a cross between a cow and a buffalo, alpacas, llamas, sheep, geese, guinea fowl as well as squirrels, frogs, fish, turtles, mink, guinea pigs, cats and dogs. Any kind of crops you can think of we’re probably growing it you’ll all get a list and a better description of things once you’re in the isolation centers.“

Judith was excited to see what the Counties looked like after hours of listening to Cal’s stories it sounded like paradise in a world where it was not possible to have paradise…Cal talked about the people there, the buildings, the types of crops they grew, the fish they caught and the game they hunted and he told stories of the world before the end and a few of the older folks piped in with stories of their own while the children listened enthralled with the stories of a world they’d never know. It took them two and a half days to reach the Harvest Counties a long and taxing journey for the rescued who’d never had such a long journey especially those pregnant.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Judith and crew are now arriving at the Harvest Counties

Judith peered out the back of the truck as they pulled through a huge wooden and wrought iron gate reinforced with wooden and metal spikes lining the front and ground just outside with a covered walkway overtop where armed guards were walking. The gate was reinforced with old doors, jagged shards of glass and barbed wire no one was climbing it that was for sure. There wasn’t much to see beyond the gates as far as she could see there were just more wrought iron fencing and a huge medical looking building where a group of people stood dressed in contamination suits like the HAZMAT teams used to wear. This didn’t look good were they going to experiment on them or something? Had it all been a terrible idea trusting these people so quickly not that she’d had much choice in the matter? 

They all piled out of the trucks huddling together and looking around suspiciously Cal clapped his hands to get their attention saying, “Right! Ladies and Gentlemen! Boys and Girls! Welcome to the welcoming center for the Harvest Counties! Don’t be afraid! Here you will get a thorough bathing, medical examination then you will proceed to some sleeping quarters to rest for the night in the morning you will be allowed beyond the gates and be escorted to the Counties! From there you will meet our leaders and put your names and ages into our membership log to be declared full-fledged County Members! Come on through single file slowly now no need to be afraid or to rush.”

Judith stumbled along with the rest of the group into the sterile building everyone was led into private shower rooms where a nurse helped them scrub down and clean every inch of their body even brushing their teeth, cleaning their ears, trimming their finger and toenails then scraping underneath them. Judith had never felt so clean in her life the nurse a pretty black-haired woman helped her into a t-shirt and jeans tying Judith’s light brown hair newly cut so it wasn’t so wild and tangled up back into a ponytail she said, “Here we are all fresh and clean…just need your hair up and you’ll be ready for bed.” The nurse smiled and led her down a hall into another room where she helped Judith get settled into a room with several other beds. It gave her hope for her new life in the counties to see how kind these people were to them.

Cal came in to see her looking freshly showered himself he settled into a chair next to her bed and said, “Hey baby girl you look good nice and clean. I wanted to give you your welcoming package in person. Everything you could want to know is in here and if it isn’t I’m sure someone can answer your questions. Get some sleep I’ll be here in the morning when we get you all into the Counties. “ He kissed the top of her head and left down different hallways than the one they’d been led down. Judith stayed up looking through the folder with fascination it told her all about the counties, the leaders, how it was founded, the facilities they had, the crops and animals they had until she fell asleep waking with the folder splayed out in her lap. 

The other’s were awake and chattering excitedly as they looked through the folders themselves taking in the many pictures of the Counties a picturesque-looking paradise a slice of the best part of life before the end. The excitement was increased when they received breakfast warm toast with butter, eggs, sausage, and glasses of apple juice, not rations or canned food. Judith ate hungrily she couldn’t get the food in fast enough it was so good! So full of flavor and warmth…and the apple juice cold and sweet the best thing she’d ever tasted in her life. They’d created all this amazing food right here in the counties if they could achieve this what else could they do? Judith hadn’t realized it was possible to have such good food…

Judith hopped out of bed holding the folder as Cal stepped in followed by Ariah he smiled at Judith and said, “Right folks I see you all enjoyed breakfast good to see there’s a lot more where that comes from in the Counties if you’ll kindly follow me and Ariah we will escort you to the Counties to the City Hall to meet our leader and get you signed in on the Members Log then we can start finding you houses and families to live with. Once you’re settled in houses some volunteers will give you a tour of the grounds take as long as you need to get settled and get comfortable when you feel you’re ready to make your way to the City Hall and find one of our four Career Officer’s and they’ll help you start looking for a career. You don’t have to be signed down for just one you can dabble in every career available if you wish and you don’t have to be signed on to any at all if you just want to be a citizen and take your time getting settled down then so be it. Be what you want to be because today is the first day of the rest of your life as a free member of the Harvest Counties. “

Cal wrapped an arm around her as they began walking out of the room everyone else was gathered outside jostling about the air charged with nervous excitement. They exited the building and walked through a gate to be greeted by several large pickups everyone began piling in they were open backed so they could all look around and take in the scenery. Judith hopped up front next to Cal peering out the window she couldn’t take in the scenery fast enough there was so much lush green grass, trees, bushes, flowers, and long rows and plots of crops, planters made from wood, old cars, bathtubs, pots, license plates, tires, filing cabinets, cement blocks, sinks, toilets, drawers, jars, logs, hollowed out tree stumps…everything one could think of, orchards of fruit trees as well as greenhouses leading to grazing pastures and barns as well as lean-tos and coops. What did they do with all the food they got? Did they not worry about wasting it? There were smokehouses, milking stations; windmills, water towers and butchering stations all near the animals, which made sense keeping close to where it would be needed the most. She saw a tall building, which she assumed was the gristmill since Cal had said they had one. 

The roads and scenery began to change as they approached the outskirts of the city the roads became cobblestone and there were houses small at first, but growing in size the farther in they drove they passed a church, the school house, a large library, bakery, armory, storage building then they pulled to a stop outside the large city hall a beautiful four-story red brick building with large white steps leading to a white pillar line porch framing the massive double oak doors. This was it they were about to meet the brains behind this incredible place the person who would let them stay and give them a brand new life so much better than they could ever have imagined.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey so this is chapter two let me know what you think :) Are you pumped that they'd made it to the Harvest Counties? Do you think I ought to make the journey to the Harvest Counties longer?


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So here we meet the leader of the Harvest Counties and get a glimpse of life inside the Harvest Counties and even a little glimpse of Cal's life before the end.

A woman stood on the steps waiting for them Judith could see people walking dogs, working with animals or just sitting on their porches watching the new arrivals. She stepped out of the truck and looked around once more it was all so beautiful….so clean and unblemished by any form of decay. Cal grinned as he jogged up the steps towards the woman standing there he turned and stood a few steps down from her and clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention then he said, “Right folks! Welcome to the Harvest counties! This is our City Hall here and this lovely woman here is our leader. I’ll let them introduce themselves. “

He stepped aside as the woman stepped forward she was really pretty she was tall with tanned skin from being out in the sun a lot with long black hair tied back into a ponytail she smiled and said, “Welcome! Welcome! My name is Miranda Greyhaven and I am the leader and founder of the Harvest Counties. It is so good to see you all look so healthy and well considering where you came from words cannot express how guilty we feel for not seeing the monsters that were holding you for who they truly were sooner. We will do our best to try and reunite you with your children if we are able to we have a log of the babies brought in and the names written on their stomachs so when you are ready we can start pairing parents with children. This community is a peaceful one we may be many in numbers and have much in the ways of ammo and weapons, but we do not use it unless absolutely necessary. Our goal is rebuilding society as peacefully as possible and to help as many people as possible live in this new world. This new world will be better than what was lost we will not be driven apart by technology or differences we will not judge on skin colour, gender, age, religion, beliefs, sexuality or skill everyone is valuable even if all you contribute is a good sense of humor laughter is a beautiful kind of medicine even in the darkest of times. I hope you will trust us enough to allow us to become your family because that is what we are here a family of perfect strangers who before the end would’ve just passed by one another on the street without a second glance, but now would fight, stand, fall, run and die for each other without a second glance. Trust is a hard thing to earn I know so do not feel pressured to trust us we will do our best to earn it you just need to give us a chance. Now let us get you all signed in nice and orderly, please. “

It was a good speech moving and Judith could see some of the others were nodding and mumbling amongst each other they were starting to get as hopeful as Judith about the future. She followed up the stairs nearly getting swallowed by the crowd as they made their way inside the building was stunning from the inside with white marble floors towering ceilings a large grand staircase fanning out like a pair of opening arms. Judith peered into one of the rooms on the ground floor it looked to be the library with the shelves cram packed with books and rolls of blueprints. A tall, freckled red-haired boy about her age smiled and waved to her when he caught her eyes as she peeked around the room. 

She let out a squeak and hurried after the group they made their way up to the second floor. They entered into a large office with dark oak furniture a large open book sat on the grand desk Miranda said, “Right one at a time everyone come on up and sign your name, age and today’s date, which is Monday the 23rd of July 2038. “

Everyone signed their names Judith walked up and took the pen looking at the rows upon rows of names, ages and dates all dating back a long time. She wrote out ‘Judith, 11, Monday, July 23rd, 2038’ she didn’t have a last name she’d never been called anything but Judith. She stepped back and let someone else come up to sign the book it was strange that something so simple as signing a book could make her a member of a society she noticed another book on the desk also laying open it was a list of all births & deaths in the Harvest Counties then a third book listing all Marriages & Divorces as well as one listing everyone’s birthdays. Miranda had them sign that one as well as far as Judith knew her birthday was April 12th

It was nice they were keeping track of everything for future generations to look back upon one day she’d show her children if she had any of course her signature. Once all seventy two of the rescued had signed the books Miranda said, “You now members of the Harvest Counties we’re glad to have you with us safe and sound now let’s see about getting you all settled into houses if you are under the age of 18 raise your hand please you will be getting placed with a foster family until you reach 18 then you can live on your own. “

Judith raised her hand along with several others at least twenty others were under eighteen. Miranda nodded and said, “Right outside we go the families will have all gathered around by now with any luck you’ll all be settled in by lunch and you can plenty of time to explore. “

Judith walked quickly so she could walk in time with Cal, which wasn’t easy since he was a fast walker and his legs were so much longer than hers, it wasn’t until they got back out on the front steps that Judith realized there hadn’t been any lights on in the City Hall. It had all been lit by natural sunlight an impressive feat. There was a crowd of people outside and Miranda got busy introducing the younger than 18-year-olds to families. Cal put a hand on Judith’s shoulder and said, “Don’t worry baby girl you’re going to stay with me no strangers for you come on I’ll show you our home. “

Judith relaxed she wasn’t sure she would’ve been able to relax in a home surrounded by strangers at least she was with Cal the one familiar friendly face she could pick out in a crowd. They walked through the idyllic suburban like streets stopping outside a pretty eggshell blue two-story house. Cal smiled and pushed the door open stepping into the house was modern full of stainless steel appliances, comfy furniture and pictures hung on the wall. There was a woman and a boy in each of the pictures Cal gave Judith a sad smile as he said, “My wife Jane and my son Aiden they didn’t survive the outbreak…just a few more days and we would’ve all been here together…. not a day goes by that I don’t miss them, but I’ve come to love my new family you will too. These people are good people this is a paradise and we are working to make it even better we’re helping the other communities to grow and prosper because we can’t do things without people anymore.”

There were tears in his eyes as he finished speaking he wiped them away and said, “Right enough misery let me show you your room you’ll love it Ariah helped me set up last night when you were sleeping. “

Her room was on the second floor down the hall from Cal’s it was really nice with light green walls, a big bed and a bookshelf full of books and closet stuffed with clothes and an en-suite bathroom. It was a basic room, but more than she could’ve asked for she hugged Cal and said, “Thank you…I love it. “ Cal nodded hugging her back. They stood there for a few minutes before Cal said, “Right I suppose you want a tour so come on I’ll show you around introduce you to a few people along the way.“ Judith had never had her own room before let alone a bed with pillows and blankets filled with toys and nice clothes…

**Author's Note:**

> So...
> 
> I dunno what to write here so I'mma just say this is my first time writing anything here so don't be too mean lemme know what you think of this work


End file.
